{"id":55224,"date":"2024-01-08T17:53:28","date_gmt":"2024-01-09T01:53:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=55224"},"modified":"2024-01-08T17:54:44","modified_gmt":"2024-01-09T01:54:44","slug":"navy-service-members-sentenced-to-27-months-in-prison-for-giving-military-information-to-chinese-intelligence-officer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=55224","title":{"rendered":"Navy Serviceman Sentenced to 27 Months in prison for Giving Military Information to Chinese Intelligence Officer"},"content":{"rendered":"
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CALIFORNIA<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"A U.S. Navy service member was sentenced Monday to 27 months in prison and ordered to pay a $5,500 fine for transmitting sensitive U.S. military information to an intelligence officer from China in exchange for bribery payments.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to court documents, Petty Officer Wenheng Zhao, 26, aka Thomas Zhao, of Monterey Park, California,\u00a0pleaded guilty<\/a>\u00a0in October 2023 to one count of conspiring with the intelligence officer and one count of receiving a bribe.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cZhao betrayed his country and disgraced himself when he accepted bribes from an intelligence officer with the People\u2019s Republic of China,\u201d said U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada for the Central District of California. \u201cAs a result, he has now been removed from the military and will serve time in federal prison. Today\u2019s sentence shows that my office will swiftly act to root out and punish those who seek to undermine our nation\u2019s security.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"silhouette<\/a>Zhao, who worked at Naval Base Ventura County in Port Hueneme and held a U.S. security clearance, engaged in a corrupt scheme to collect and transmit sensitive U.S. military information to the intelligence officer violating his official duties.<\/span><\/p>\n

Between August 2021 and at least May 2023, Zhao received at least $14,866 in at least 14 separate bribe payments from the intelligence officer. <\/span><\/p>\n

In exchange for the illicit payments, Zhao secretly collected and transmitted to the intelligence officer sensitive, non-public information regarding U.S. Navy operational security, military trainings and exercises, and critical infrastructure. Zhao entered restricted military and naval installations to collect and record this information.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"Zhao transmitted plans for a large-scale maritime training exercise in the Pacific theatre, operational orders, electrical diagrams, and blueprints for a ground\/air task-oriented radar system located in Okinawa, Japan.<\/span><\/p>\n

He used sophisticated encrypted communication methods to transmit the information. He also destroyed evidence and concealed his relationship with the intelligence officer. Zhao\u2019s conduct violated his official duties to protect such information and his oath to protect the United States.<\/span><\/p>\n

The FBI Los Angeles Field Office\u2019s Counterintelligence and Cyber Division and NCIS conducted the investigation.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Annamartine Salick, Sarah Gerdes, Christine Ro and Kathrynne Seiden for the Central District of California prosecuted the case.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CALIFORNIA A U.S. Navy service member was sentenced Monday to 27 months in prison and ordered to pay a $5,500 fine for transmitting sensitive U.S. military information to an intelligence officer from…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3305,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-55224","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-u-s-department-of-justice"],"yoast_head":"\nNavy Serviceman Sentenced to 27 Months in prison for Giving Military Information to Chinese Intelligence Officer<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"CALIFORNIA A U.S. Navy service member was sentenced Monday to 27 months in prison and ordered to pay a $5,500 fine for transmitting sensitive U.S.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" 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